


Summoning // safety

by silvercolour



Category: Kane and Feels (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-typical vague magic use, Communication, Gen, Let Lucifer monologue 2k20, Light Angst, POV shifts, characters trying to understand feelings, no beta we die like men, post season one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23263132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvercolour/pseuds/silvercolour
Summary: In which a spell is interrupted, Kane and Feels attempt to talk about the situation and maybe their feelings. It’s not as easy as that sounds.
Relationships: Brutus Feels & Lucifer Kane
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	Summoning // safety

**Author's Note:**

> Did I binge the whole series in a day? Yes I did.  
> Did I write fanfic for it the very next day? Also yes, and this seems to be a common occurrence in this fandom.  
> Enjoy!

As Feels stops in front of the door to their offices he senses- something unfamiliar, something that makes the hairs on his neck stand up, and it is only the fact that his key is already in his hand that stops him from kicking in his own door.

He fumbles with the lock, fighting conflicting urges-what if something bad is waiting for him or Luce in there, what if it wants to be let out. Or conversely, what if whatever is in there has Kane and he needs Brutus’ help?

Finally the lock clicks open, and Brutus opens the door. The office behind it is wholly unfamiliar. It is as if someone took all the puzzle pieces that normally make up their office and made a new puzzle with them, with extra pieces added for good measure. The room is dim, candlelit and its curtains drawn. The air is incense-filled and heavy, but underneath that smells like fire and burning herbs. The furniture is pushed away from the center of the room, stacked against the walls and bookshelves

In the center of the room: Lucifer Kane, chanting _something_ , whirls around in shock as the door suddenly opens. He’s standing in what Brutus can only describe as a magic circle, though he’s certain Luce would scoff at the term, and his partner is facing another, more elaborate circle. For a short moment his eyes are wide in shock, then he frowns, and gestures at Brutus is a way that can only mean ‘don’t move’. Then he.whirls back and throws what looks like a glassful of tap water at the other circle. Only after that does he stop chanting.  
  


* * *

Earlier

Finally, the time to put his research to the test had arrived. With Brutus away for the weekend on “family visit” Kane would have the time to test some of his more… esoteric theories about the place they visited while looking for the girl Alice.

The furniture he moves aside: a ritual this groundbreaking needs space after all! And he needs the space to draw the circle of Kaneite design. The very thought fills him with pride, his invention, his own school of magical thought. It’s midafternoon but he closes the curtains anyway and switches on the lights. The next part requires time and even lighting, and neither sunset nor sunrise cannot be allowed to throw this off.

Drawing the circles takes up the most time, as it has to be done twice for each circle. Once in chalk to get it right, and the second time for permanence- using a deep cobalt blue paint. The colour has of course been picked both for the significance of that shade as well as the specific metal it contains that will -should- make certain the boundary holds. In between circles and layers he fortifies himself with coffee, in amounts Brutus would probably frown at if he were here to witness it all. The coffee-intake required is the least of the reasons he is doing this while Brutus is away however.

When everything is finally drawn up and ready he lights the candles placed strategically around the room, burns both herbs and incense -never hurts to use both he’s found, and personally he much prefers the incense over the clean acrid herb smoke-, and switches off the electric lights. Then he takes a deep breath and steps into his circle.

Inside this circle he has placed his box of strings, filled with only his own strings this time, a glass of holy water, and several talismans that will hopefully not be necessary at all. The glass he picks up, and carefully holds it with both hands. The holy water is a final protection; it should not be necessary and may not even work against what he’s trying to do- but just like combining herbs and incense smoke, it can’t hurt.

The circle he is facing- the circle that’s facing him- is empty.

The room is dark except for the glow of the candles and feels larger than it’s walls dictate, even with the furniture lining the walls. He sweeps his eyes over the circles one last time, and begins the incantation.

Kane is barely halfway through the spells when he feels something approaching. It has no visible effect on the room- not yet. The candles burn calmly in the dark they keep at bay, and the smoky tendrils of incense continue to drift slowly towards the ceiling. The water in the glass is still except for his own movements. And yet he senses-

The lock on the office door opens with a click and Kane whirls around in shock. Could it be that any door could be used as a Pathway? Where did he miscalculate, what sources did he miss? Should he perhaps have used a room without doors- no perhaps this should have been performed outdoors-

Revealed in the light of the corridor is Brutus Feels.

Of all the terrible timing possible- Kane wonders if he perhaps pocketed a bad luck charm instead of a good luck one this morning… the morning he woke up… He has no time for these musings.

He gestures for Brutus to stay outside and continues the incantation as he hastily improves a new closing statement for the unfinished spell. Keeping doors and paths closed, cancelling the invitation, as it were… Then he tosses the glass of holy water at the circle facing him for good measure. A candle fizzles out and a second one spits angrily at the water that hits it.

In the silence that follows Kane stoops and picks up the box of string, shaking it hurriedly and lifting the lid as though it knows more about the situation than Kane does. It does not, as the strings in it are all Kane’s. He takes his amulet out of his pocket- it doesn’t spin beyond a few lazy twists to indicate Kane and Brutus are alone in the room. For good measure Kane checks the other amulets, and finally takes out the tarot deck he rarely uses, holds it for a moment and draws a card: the knight of wands, reversed. Not a particularly unexpected message, but also not an ominous sign.

Then he finally steps out of the circle and turns to Brutus.

* * *

“You’re back early,” is all Luce says, and it almost sounds like an accusation.

“Only by a few hours,” which is true, although the way Luce blinks at me makes me think he hasn’t slept as much as he should over the weekend. That and the state of the room, which has to have taken time to build up to its current state of organised disarray. And the bags under his eyes.

“Can I-“ I gesture inside.

Another blink. “Oh. Yes, “ a desultory wave of his hand. “Yes, of course. It’s your office too you know.” He starts blowing out the candles scattered around and collecting the incense burners and other odds and ends. He almost looks like a child told he’s not allowed to play outside today, but has to clean his room instead.

“What’s with the furniture?” It sounds lame even as I ask it, but knowing Luce I’m more likely to get a complete answer this way rather than asking about the magic circles right away.

“This isn’t about The Furniture, Feels,” Luce sounds exasperated and exhausted. “This is… an investigation.” Before I can ask he adds: “For my own curiosity. This isn’t- it’s not for a case.  
  


“I figured it wasn’t for a case, yeah.” A pause. I step inside, put down my overnight bag and start to clean away the other candles. Over my shoulder I ask “I meant the actual furniture though, what’s up with that?”

“Ah, I see-“ another owlish blink, and a vague wave of his hand as I put down the candles next to the ones he’s collected on the desk. “Well, I needed the space… I didn’t expect you back yet…” he trails off. 

I put a hand on his shoulder, and he leans into the contact. “I can see _that_ Luce. What kind of investigation is this, if it’s not for a case?”

Luce looks away and doesn’t respond.

“Aren’t you the one who’s always saying it’s dangerous to go looking without cause, without reason?” I hope I don’t sound as desperate as I feel, because if Luce has a reason, if he’s somehow involved in something bad with the Other Side and has been going at it alone- well, there’s a reason people in our line of work don’t work alone. It generally doesn’t end well.

“I am.”

I remain silent and give him a look he once described as ‘that serious parent look’, hoping he will continue, praying won’t recognise the Look for what it is. He does, I can tell he recognises it, but he continues talking anyway, which is a relief.

“I just…” Luce takes a deep breath, collecting his thoughts, and stands up straighter. “I simply wish to be prepared, alright? If anything like the situation around Alice’s disappearance happens again- and believe me Feels, I do not wish to jinx the situation, but this is…” he’s picking up steam and shrugs off my hand to start pacing around the room. “Especially with the Archbishop and the military poking around “casing the joint” before the Other Side has even made a move? Well, if the Alice-case hadn’t gotten their attention yet the army’s continuous knocking on metaphysical doors they barely know how to open and do _not_ know how to close certainly will. The Other Side might well see it as a declaration of war, and frankly I couldn’t blame them if they did.”

He stops pacing to take a deep breath. “At this point it’s hardly going to be noticeable for the Other Side if someone else just,” he looks around the room as though the right word might be hiding in here. “If someone else opens a small window to- to have a look.” 

He looks over his shoulder at me, eyes filled with guilt and… fear? That is neither the explanation not the feelings on the matter I was expecting on his part. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much, either no explanation at all, or long ramblings about scientific magic.

“It’s- I’m sure it sounds selfish Brutus, I am aware of that,” He sounds softer now, no longer ranting, but asking for my… understanding? Or perhaps forgiveness? I’m not sure, and I do not think Luce knows either.

“I need to be able to protect you-“ he stops, his back turned to me, then spins around, mind made up. “I need to be able to protect both of us, and any clients unfortunate enough to get caught in a bad situation with us.” He stops in front of me, his eyes pinning me in place. He would have looked like he’s pleading if not for the fierce determination burning in his eyes.

“Like Alice,” I say softly, more to myself than to him, but he stands close enough to hear it anyway.

“Yes, like Alice,” he sounds relieved at my understanding and impatient at the same time. “And Jenny, and- After all, we cannot afford to rely on the Acteonson’s child again. We don’t even know if it _would_ help us a second time, if it operates by Fey rules than it’s debt to us is now paid-“

I interrupt the rant Luce is building up by putting both hands on his shoulders this time. He stops talking midway through a sentence, and blinks at me, waiting for me to speak.

“I feel it would help us again” This was apparently not the right thing to say. He tries to shake off my hands, but he’s not getting away from me- from the conversation again.

“I’m sure you do, but even _if_ it would we do not know where it is or if it might find us in time to help at all. No, I need to be able to protect-,” he pauses, looks away to the side, to one of the hands resting on his shoulders. He continues quietly: “To protect us.”

It’s not really an explanation for what he was doing, and yet it’s so much more than I expected him to say. Luce lifts my hands from his shoulders and climbs half over his desk to open the curtains. As he does the morning lights and morning sounds flood the room, taking away the dark and mystery with it.

Climbing down from the desk Luce dusts himself off. “Now that you’re here, why don’t you help me move back the furniture.” 

I can’t help but raise an eyebrow at the circles of paint on our office floor.

“We are _not_ removing the circles. Do you have any idea how long it took to draw those? Of course you don’t, you weren’t here.” He’s ranting again, but this is a normal Lucifer Kane-rant, impatient at the world, not enough sleep and too much caffeine kind of tirade, not the desperate rant from before. So I let him.

“Well, it took entirely too long to make them, and as you may have noticed, that is paint, not the traditional chalk, so they're solid, both physically and metaphysically. Not to mention they would take more time to remove than it did to paint them. We’ll just put a few rugs over it, no one will notice.”

Together we move back the furniture, now with extra rugs on the floor. After that I make us both tea, and if Luce notices it’s a soothing herbal blend he doesn’t say anything about it. Later that afternoon I come back from an errand to get him a book from a library that banned him access to find him fast asleep on the couch usually reserved for clients.

I decide not to wake him.

**Author's Note:**

> Knight of wands, reversed: passion projects, haste, scattered energy, delays, frustration
> 
> Lucifer Kane be saying things like “not to jinx things, but” and “no one will notice”. These are dangerous things to say. Maybe I should.... write that next..
> 
> Please let me know what you think, I live for comments!


End file.
